A Bitter Cold Spell
by Snapegirlkmf
Summary: An unusually harsh winter in the Enchanted Forest, along with a deadly sickness causes Bae to fall ill and Rumple to use all of his magic to try and make him get well. Papafire bonding! Unexpected verse companion story! Set before This Doesn't Have to Be Love.


~ A Bitter Cold Spell ~

By Snapegirlkmf & CJ Moliere

**Author's Notes: This little one shot alternates between the present in Storybrooke and the past in the Enchanted Forest. The events in the past take place prior to the first book of the Unexpected Verse, This Doesn't Have To Be Love. The events in the present occur prior to A Holiday of Unexpected Surprises. Enjoy this little Papafire bonding oneshot dearies! **

_Gold's Victorian: _

"Papa, I don't wanna stay in bed!" Adriana whined.

"_Mo astor_, if you don't stay in bed ye're gonna have a relapse," her father told her.

"Yeah, you better listen, Rumplette, 'cause Papa knows what he's talking about."

Adriana scowled. "I hate bein' sick. It sucks!" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared.

"Try being sick in the wintertime, Rumplette. That sucks worse," Bae said.

"Why?" she asked grouchily. "Did Papa make you take yucky medicine?"

The cough syrup Rumple had her take tasted like sour grapes.

"Yup...and a few other things but when I decided to not listen to him, I paid for it good, didn't I, Papa?"

"Aye, that you did, Bae," Rumple agreed, sitting down on the edge of his daughter's bed.

"What happened, Papa?" Adriana inquired.

Rumple leaned on his hand and said, "Well, _mo astor_, let me tell you the story of a freezing cold winter long ago, back in the Enchanted Forest, when the air was so cold when you breathed it froze into tiny crystals in front of you . . .and drifted over your nose and made your nose into an icicle!"

The little girl lay back against her pillows and summoned Majors Rumple and Bae to her. The bears lay on either side of her to listen to her father's tale and now that they had the ability to speak, they sometimes would ask their own questions during storytime.

Rumple continued, using his expressive voice to enhance the story as he spoke. "Once upon a time, a winter like none other fell over the Enchanted Forest, and even in my castle, the cold crept through the walls and under the doors, to nip with sharp teeth at my and Bae's toes . . ."

"Ooooo it's cooollld in here!" Gabby, their enchanted hassock, complained. It lay in front of the fireplace trying to keep warm but even with a roaring fire, the castle was still freezing. "Bae, can't the master make it warm?"

Bae had his feet, in his warm woolen socks, tucked under him as he sat on Misty the loveseat in front of the fire. "He's trying, Gabby, but the cold is very . . umm . . .persistent and it takes a lot of his magic to keep it out."

Lumiere and Cogsworth sat on the mantle with small blankets wrapped around them and in the kitchen, everyone was huddled around the stove who kept himself lit to provide them with a little heat but a draft coming in kept putting the fire out.

Adelaide shook so much she feared the hot cross buns were going to become hasty pudding in the pantry.

"M'so cold...I can't even move!" Tobias wailed.

"M'so cold my breath freezes!" added Wesley.

In the dungeon of the Dark Castle, Rumple stood with his hands glowing purple and streamers of magic streaked through the air, as he did his best to seal all the cracks and gaps in the castle walls and heat the stones so they threw off warmth.

This was the harshest winter he'd ever experienced and at first he suspected the White Witch Jadis of Narnia had invaded their realm and cast her spell of eternal winter on the land. Or it was the work of The Snow Queen herself said to have cast harsh winter spells on the land before he was born.

The sap inside the trees froze and the trees exploded, sending shards of deadly wooden shrapnel everywhere.

The roofs of many homes in the village started to leak or collapsed under the weight of heavy snow and sometimes freezing rain.

The snow was so high that drifts often piled against the houses and made it impossible for people to get out of their homes. Some elderly people had fallen on the slippery ice-coated pathways and had hurt themselves.

The local healer and wise woman, Sarah Goode, was kept busy making rounds on her snowshoes, trying to help those in need but even she couldn't minister to them all.

Everyone feared what would happen if she succumbed to the illness that was affecting the families, congestion with high fevers, chills, sore throats, and stomachaches. The town elders even considered asking the Blue Fairy for help and when she appeared, there was little she could do. She did not have the gift they needed the most: the power to heal.

Sarah tried combating the disease with her herbal remedies . . which sometimes worked well and sometimes not depending on the person. The ones hardest hit were the very young and old, with the middle aged as the next group stricken the most.

It was suggested that someone make the dangerous trek up the mountains to the Dark One's castle and ask him to help them. People knew he had a child of his own but the boy was rarely seen. Many of the parents believed that a sorcerer with a child was not as dark as he was rumored to be and that he could cure the illness faster than Sarah's herbal remedies.

But all magic the Dark One performed came with a price and they feared what it would be.

Bae was bored being inside for days, even though the castle was huge and he could draw or had the run of his papa's library. He had started making paper birds and throwing them for Gabby to chase, he was so bored.

He asked his father several times if he could go outside, even for a breath of fresh air but Rumple wouldn't hear of it, warning the boy that the chill in the air would freeze him solid in a matter of minutes. Bae thought Rumple was being paranoid and decided that he would try to go outside the next time his father left for one of his deals.

Rumple came into the den with a bowl of his rich barley and beef stew and some fresh yeast bread with butter. "Here, Bae. Have some lunch."

"Hope it doesn't get cold before I can get a bite in."

"The bowl is spelled to keep it warm, and so is the plate," his father said. He was never cold due to his cursed state but he knew Bae was not so lucky.

The hot stew chased some of the chill from his body as did the delicious bread but after he finished eating he could feel the cold seeping in again and wrapped himself up in one of his father's handwoven blankets.

Rumple went to pick up some knitting and was in the middle of knitting another scarf when he felt the familiar tingle of a summons rush through him. Someone desperate was calling upon him. He stood up.

"Another deal?" Bae asked bitterly.

He was more irritated when people summoned his father to do things they could do themselves or feed their vanity.

"I'm sorry, son. But there are people in the village who want me to help them . . ." Rumple said regretfully. "I have to go." Part of the curse was an insatiable need to make deals when summoned.

"With what...removing wrinkles or grey hairs?

"I don't know. But I think probably with the cold and this weather." Rumple said. The calling was becoming more insistent. "I'll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, read or take a nap."

Neither of those activities appealed to him. When he attempted to read, the words were jumbled and he was too cold to sleep.

"I'll be back soon," I promise," Rumple said and then he vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

Bae waited an hour before he went outside. He wanted Gabby to accompany him but the hassock refused to leave the comfort of the fireplace even to go roll around in the snow, something he loved doing on any other winter's day. In his hand Bae held his sketching materials. He brushed the snow off one of the benches in the garden and began to sketch the winter wonderland in the castle courtyard.

The teenager wished his papa would allow other kids to visit him or he could go to the village and visit them. Rumple was determined to keep his son as far away from the dangers of the realm as possible. Still, it didn't ease the loneliness in there boy's heart. He needed friends as much as he needed his papa who was slowly drifting away from him because of the curse he'd taken.

Even if he did meet other people they forgot him in time because they aged...he wasn't...not in the normal sense. Had his father not reversed Rasputin's aging curse he would be an old man close to death instead of a fourteen year old for more years than he could count.

Only when he was immersed in his artwork could he truly forget his troubles for a while. He completed two sketches of the courtyard and several of the castle itself when Dove came outside to fetch him.

"Come inside, Bae. It's fit for neither man nor beast out here and your papa will be furious if you become ill like those people in the villages."

"I'm tired of staying inside, Alex!" he complained. "I want to be able to go places, to see people but Papa won't let me. Not everyone would hurt me!"

"We cannot be certain of that, Bae. The Dark One's son, as you've seen before is a powerful leverage against him, as powerful as the dagger that bears his name."

"I'm never gonna have any friends!" he pouted when he rose to his feet and stormed back into the castle. Dove sighed. He felt sorry for the boy and his father. The isolation and constant separations were taking their toll on their bond and he feared one day the boy would leave and never return.

"So cold I'll freeze in minutes eh? No I didn't," he muttered and tried to sit down on Misty. She hissed at him. "What was that for, girl?" he inquired.

Gabby brushed his nose against the boy's leg and jumped back. "Bae...you're too cold!"

"I don't feel anything," he insisted.

"You need to warm yourself by the fire...quickly," Dove instructed and made the teenager sit in front of the fireplace while he gathered up blankets to warm him and asked the kitchen to prepare some hot tea.

Even huddled under the blankets with hot tea to warm him, Bae was coughing, sneezing, with a headache, fever, and chills. Dove shifted into his bird form and flew off to find Rumplestiltskin.

Rumple had gone down to the village to answer the calls of several desperate people who had summoned him to see if he could help save their loved ones stricken by the dreaded sickness, which was being called the Bitter Chill.

He found that he could enhance the herbal remedies that Sarah had been giving the stricken people, and he made a few minor adjustments to people's homes to keep the chill at bay and magically heated their blankets and outer clothing to hold warmth. He brewed strengthening cordials and cordials that would help the sick expel the deadly congestion from their lungs. He also cooled fevers with his touch and urged the caregivers to make sure they got enough rest and kept up their strength eating and practiced good hygiene.

His price for most of the treatments were items of food and a few trinkets that would not matter half as much as their loved ones getting well, or an unspecified favor at a later date.

A little girl in one of the houses offered him her special doll as payment for healing her but he refused to take it, knowing how much it meant to the child. He had always had a soft spot for children, and that had not changed even cursed as he was.

"But how we gonna pay ya...we don't have anything?" she asked.

He thought quickly. "You can bake, right? Then you bake me and my son some loaves of bread or make me some soup and that shall be payment enough, child. All magic comes with a price, but no one said the price needs to be unreasonable."

"Ummm...I can make soup..."

"Sir...there's ahhh...a man lookin for you," the child's father said to him.

"A man? Where?" Rumple asked.

"Outside...Says his name's Alex."

Alex was pacing nervously while he waited to see his master. Rumple would be furious for certain that Bae had gone outside without permission and the dove hadn't gotten him inside in time.

Rumple hurried from the cottage and saw his manservant standing on the small porch. "Alex! What's wrong? Has something happened up at the castle?"

"Forgive me, sir, but Bae...he went outside...I tried to get him to go in sooner but he refused to listen and now..."

"What's happened to my son?" demanded Rumple sharply, fear congealing in his heart.

"He has the fever...chills...coughing and sneezing..."

"Dear gods!" Rumple paled. "You should have dragged him inside by the ear, you silly ass!" He shook his head. "Never mind now! I can always skin you later . . .meet me back at the castle." Then he teleported back to his home, leaving Alex still on the porch.

Alex knew the master would never carry out his threat though it still made him shiver to hear it.

Rumple arrived back at the castle to find Bae shivering so badly his teeth were chattering, his eyes glassy and his face flushed with the telltale signs of fever. "Bae! When did this start? What were you doing outside?"

"I was bored!" he croaked.

"Bored? Ye went and got yerself sick because ye were bored?" Rumple was aghast. "Have ye lost what brains ye had? Come, let's get you upstairs and into some flannels and in bed. And if ye weren't sick I'd tale you over my knee for acting like silly child!"

He pointed to his sketchbook. "Have nothing to do around here while you're gone so I went outside to do some sketching...aahhhhh choo! Wasn't even out long!"

"I told ye it was too cold for ye to be out for even a few minutes!" his agitated father scolded, his accent becoming more pronounced in his distress. "Now, no more excuses, to bed wi' ye. Or must I pick ye up and carry ye there?" he mock-growled.

Oh but his son could be stubborn as ten mules sometimes and he made Rumple long to pull his hair out!

"M'not goin to bed...not a baby..."

Rumple put his hands on his hips. "Oh, yes ye are, lad! Ye're sick and are goin' t' bed if I have t' carry you over my shoulder myself!" He fixed his recalcitrant offspring with a warning Look.

"You won't..." Bae challenged.

"Lad, do ye really wanna test me?"

Rumple normally did not like to manhandle his son, preferring the fine art of persuasion over brute force, but in a case like this, he was more than willing to do so because arguing while his son was sick was just going to make things worse.

"Baelfire, must I count to three?" he demanded testily.

"Papa...m'fine...I...ahhhhh CHOOO!"

Rumple shook his head. "Fine doesna make ye sneeze like a leaky faucet. Bed!" he pointed to the stairs.

"Don't wanna lie around all day!" Bae grumbled.

"Too bad. Ye need rest. One . . ." Rumple began counting, hoping Bae's early conditioning still held.

"Papa, I'm not five years old!"

Rumple scowled. "Ye're actin' like it! Two!" He didn't want to use magic on his son, since Bae hated it, all except the gentle healing magic.

"Why can't I stay down here?"

"Because I canna keep it as warm as I need to, too many drafts. And the heat spells I cast will make the upper rooms warmer than those down here. Dinna argue with me, Bae. Just go!"

"Fine!" he grouched. He glared at his father and stomped up the steps.

Rumple followed, saying, "Quit that pouting like a sulky toddler, b'fore I forget how old ye are and give ye a swat and five minutes in the corner." Really, sometimes the boy could try the patience of a saint, which Rumple most assuredly was not!

"How'm I supposed to feel, being locked up in here all the time!?"

"Locked up? Son, I haven't locked you up, I wanted you to stay inside so ye didn't become sick!" Rumple protested, how could Bae not understand that all he wanted was for him to be safe? "Kids are dyin' down in the village with this damned sickness-dyin' despite my magic!"

"W...What?" Now the boy was terrified. "Am I gonna...?"

Rumple was immediately sorry he'd even mentioned that fact. Now he wanted to hit himself in the head. "No, no of course not! Ye just need to go to bed and take the medicine I give ye and rest and ye'll be fine in a week or so." He hoped. But Bae had one thing in his favor . . .he was strong both physically and mentally and he would have Rumple's unstinting care from the outset of this disease.

"Papa...how many kids are sick...?"

"Over half the village. But most are also younger than you . . .and some waited too long to call for me . . .and there are also many elderly who are sick as well."

Bae crawled into bed and wrapped the blankets around him like a cocoon, having never felt so cold...and foolish in his life.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

Rumple felt his forehead. "It's okay. We all make mistakes . . .and most boys don't pay attention to what their papas tell them at your age . . .because they think we don't know what we're talkin' about . . ."

He summoned a Fever Remedy from his lab, one of the few potions he had made up on hand that wouldn't lose its efficacy sitting on a shelf like most healing potions did.

"Here. Bae. Drink this, 'twill make the fever go down."

He also summoned a cool glass of snow-melted water, and a basin of cool water with a cloth in it.

Upon hearing the congestion in the boy's lungs, he summoned second potion and then a soothing paste of mint and other herbs he enhanced.

Bae made a face as he sniffed one of the potions. "Ugh that stinks, Papa!"

"Never mind, Bae. Just drink it. Or must I feed it to ye with a spoon?"

"No...I'll drink it."

"Good lad! Now ye're talkin' sense." Rumple praised.

He held out the glass of water. "Wash it down wi' this, afterwards."

He gulped down the water. "Gods, Papa, that smelled like the backend of a donkey!"

"Certain herbs in there don't smell good but they work wonders for fevers," Rumple replied. He gently removed the covers from his son and unbuttoned his shirt. "I'm gonna put this paste of mint and other herbs on your chest, 'twill help ye breathe better an' get rid o' the congestion in yer lungs." He spread the paste on and then re-buttoned Bae's shirt and replaced the covers.

"That smells better."

Rumple nodded. "The potion should make you sleepy, but that's good. In sleep you heal." He tucked an extra blanket about his son. "Now, I'm gonna go back downstairs and make ye up some broth and toast. Ye just rest and if ye need to pee, do it in the pot behind the screen there." He indicated where the privacy screen and a chamber pot were set up.

Bae smiled weakly. Had his father not been there to take care of him while Milah was still around, he would have died many times while he was sick because she didn't have the time or patience to care for him.

Rumple patted his cheek. "I'll be back," he said, then he vanished back downstairs.

In the kitchen, Rumple asked Old Huff n'Puff to start getting warm and used the cauldron to boil water for some broth, which he made by using Ormand to chop up some beef neck bones and set them into the water to boil.

Gabby jumped up on him and whimpered, "Master, is Bae gonna be okay?"

"He's sick an' in bed, but I hope so," Rumple replied. "Why dinna ye go an' keep him company?"

The hassock puppy yipped and raced away, barking excitedly. "I'm comin', Baae!"

"Yeah and the whole castle knows it!" snorted Cogsworth.

"Hi Gabby," Bae greeted and patted a space on the bed.

Gabby jumped onto the bed. "Are you okay? Master says you're sick!"

"Yeah...because I was an idiot and went outside when I wasn't supposed to."

Gabby lay down by Bae's feet. "Next time listen to the Master, Bae. Master knows best."

"I will, Gabby."

The hassock puppy looked pleased. "It's warmer here than downstairs."

Though ice sheeted the windowpane and made spiderweb cracks across it, the room was toasty as if a fire had been burning within it, thanks to Rumple's magic.

Bae slept through most of the night but awoke early the next morning barely able to speak and his throat was sore.

Rumple came in to see how he was. "How are you feeling, Bae?"

"Papa...hurts to talk...or swallow..."

Rumple felt the glands under his son's chin. They were swollen and enlarged. "Bae, open your mouth. I need to see your throat."

"Hurts...but...I'll try..."

Rumple peered into Bae's throat, using his hand lit up to see the red swollen interior with small white spots on it . .. the telltale signs of the Bitter Chill.

"Papa...feel like I can't breathe..."

Rumple felt his heart go colder than the ice upon the windowpane. He had hoped that Bae might have just caught a chill from being exposed to the cold, but now . . .had he brought the dreaded sickness home to his child? He felt guilt rise up and strangle him.

"Bae . . ." he began, and then touched a hand to his son's chest to assess his condition.

He could feel the congestion in the boy's lungs, and he wrapped an arm about him and sat him up. "I'm going to heal you, son." He rubbed Bae's back, using some of his magic to ease the strangling mucus trapped in Bae's chest.

"Papa...you'll drain yourself...again..."

"What does that matter?" Rumple muttered. When his son began to cough, he fetched a basin and held it for Bae to spit in. "C'mon, son. You need to get that phlegm out." He continued to rub Bae's back, loosening the thick mucus further with his magic.

Bae grimaced at the foulness that ended up in the basin, amazed that he'd been able to breathe at all with all of that in his chest.

"Better?" inquired Rumple softly. He held out a soft cloth for his son to wipe his mouth. Then he summoned a tea of honey, lemon, and chamomile. "Here, this should soothe your throat and coat your stomach; I need to brew another round of decongestive drafts and some more Fever Remedy and pain relievers. Are you achy? Does your stomach hurt?" Some of the patients he'd seen had complained of aching bones and upset stomachs.

"Yeah..."

He gently felt his son's tummy. "Hurts how? Nausea? Diarrhea?" He knew some of his potions could have that effect on his patients.

"Yeah…I'm gonna need another chamber pot, Papa...when I throw up I have to...do that too..."

"All right . . ." He summoned another one. "I've made them so they vanish the . . .err . .. .contents." Then he also summoned a pitcher of cool water. "Drink as much as you can, son, afterwards . . .to replenish the liquids you've lost . . ."

He had a feeling he was going to have a very sick child for the next several hours or even days.

"Call if you need me, I'll be in my lab," he told his son, then he teleported there.

He brewed several things, using his magic to make several potions up in batches. He made Sore Throat and Fever Remedies, Decongestion Drafts, Pain Relievers, and Stomach Elixirs that soothed and relieved nausea and diarrhea.

Bae sent Gabby up to the lab to tell Rumple not to forget to try to help the others in the town too. He knew some of them would appreciate his father's efforts.

Rumple looked up as the hassock puppy raced into the lab. "What is it, Gabby?"

"Bae said don't forget to help the people in town too if you can."

"Yes, all right. I'll make a trip down there later on today," Rumple agreed. "Now you make sure Bae doesn't need anything, okay? If he does, come and get me."

He knew his son was right, and the villagers would need his remedies. He also had some things to gather from them in payment.

"Uh-huh. I can do that!"

Rumple patted him. "Good boy. Go on now!"

"Byeeeee!"

Rumple chuckled in spite of himself. The puppy's silly antics could always make him smile, even now when he was worried out of his mind about his son.

He finished decanting several drafts and labeling them in his neat handwriting with instructions on how to administer them, and the correct dosage for adults and children. He would leave them with those who were sick since he couldn't stay to administer them himself with his son ill.

In this village, unlike others, the peoples' attitudes about the dreaded Dark One began to change. Were he truly so dark he would have gladly left them all to die. Instead he appeared whenever he could leaving his remedies for them families to use on their loved ones while the lords and ladies in their own grand castles cared only for themselves.

He also left woven blankets spelled for warmth and softness woven by his own hand, as well as scarves and shawls and mittens. In return they left him gifts of bread, soup, cheese, jam, and different kinds of meat pasties and mulled cider. The tailor Josselyn left him a fine red wool coat like those the nobles wore, in fact it had been a gift for one till Joss figured Rumple deserved it more after leaving a remedy that saved his sick wife and baby son.

In addition to going down to the village every few days, Rumple was kept busy tending to Bae, whose fever soared up and down for the first few days, and was plagued with bouts of chills, stomach cramps, and aching bones. His throat grew so sore he could hardly swallow and Rumple made him soft meals, like beef broth, porridge, and bread soaked with milk and honey.

Rumple made sure he drank, keeping the boy hydrated through the worst of the fever, and bathing him with tepid water. Once the fever rose so high, Rumple feared the lad would start convulsing, and used his magic recklessly to bring it down, so much so that he collapsed on the floor next to Bae's bed and slept like the dead for nearly an entire day.

When he opened his eyes, Bae, Gabby, Lumiere, and the two shakers, Tobias and Wesley were gazing at him worriedly. "Huh? What am I doin't on the floor?"

"Papa, you . . .you overspent yourself healing me and you fainted," his son cried. "I told you not to! What if you had . . . died?"

"Bae," Rumple said gently, sitting up. "I can't die unless someone kills me with my dagger, you know that. And even if that weren't so . . .I would risk anything to make sure you were well."

"You . . . would?"

"Aye, I would. A thousand times over. You are my life, son, and there is nothing –_nothing—_as important to me."

Humbled by his papa's declaration, Bae just smiled, though a part of him wondered if that were so, then why was Rumple so often away? But he was too tired to worry about his papa's reasons and also too glad that Rumple was awake to keep on with that line of questioning.

A week and a half later, Bae was nearly over the dreaded sickness, though Rumple refused to allow him out of bed till not a sniffle remained.

Bae, however, had other ideas, and snuck out of bed to go sit in the study.

When Rumple went to check on him and found him missing he was frantic.

"Bae? Bae, where are you?"

Bae heard his papa shouting and froze. He didn't know whether to answer or not, and decided to just be quiet.

But Rumple used a locator spell, fearing someone had gotten into the castle and stolen his son away, and found the boy in the study.

"Bae! What are ye doin' outta bed! I thought ye had been kidnapped!" he cried angrily.

"I was bored, Papa!" his son cried irritably.

"I dinna care if ye were bored! Ye're still sick! Ye wanna relapse?" Rumple shook his finger at his stubborn son.

"I feel fine!" Bae lied. He didn't really, he still felt tired and achy, but he was sick of being in his bed.

"But ye're not fine, lad. Not yet. Ye've only just started to get well."

"Papa, you're like a mother hen!" he scowled.

"Never ye mind, Baelfire!" Rumple looked at him like he wanted to shake him. "Get your backside back to bed!"

Bae glared at him. "Papa, I don't need to be in bed! I'm dying of boredom!"

"Ye're gonna die for real, you stubborn twit!" Rumple cried. "Now get back to bed!"

Bae shook his head.

Rumple's eyes narrowed. He had learned to cultivate patience as a spinner and a parent and later as an immortal sorcerer, but even his patience had limits, and Bae was pushing them.

"Baelfire!"

"I can sit here as well as in my room!"

"No. I want you in bed."

"I'm staying here."

"Like hell!" Rumple lost what patience he had left. He took two strides forward and picked up his son and tossed him over his shoulder.

"Hey!" Bae yelped. "Papa! Put me down!"

"I warned ye, son and now ye pay the price," Rumple declared and marched out of the study, Bae hanging over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Papa! Stop!"

Rumple ignored the boy's pleas and carried him right back to his room, while the enchanted furniture watched and smirked and snickered.

Bae was red as a radish by the time Rumple set him down again in his bed in his room. "Papa!"

"No, I dinna wanna hear it! You stay in this bed till I say ye can get up or I'm gonna stick your backside to it!" Rumple growled. "Am I clear?"

Bae knew better than to sass his father when he used that tone. "Yes, sir."

At his son's sulky tone, Rumple huffed and said exasperatedly, "Bae, I'm doing this so ye don't get sick again, not because I want you to be bored." He snapped his fingers. "Here. Look! A new sketch pad and charcoal pencils and pastels."

A beautiful leather sketch pad with premium parchment and gold filigree borders appeared on the bed, along with a case of pencils.

Bae smiled at the peace gesture and immediately felt bad for thinking his papa was a pain in the ass. His father did care for him, even if at times he was too overprotective, in Bae's opinion.

"Thanks, Papa." He ran his hands over the sketchpad lovingly.

"You're welcome, dearie. Now please stay in bed!"

"Okay. I will."

Rumple nodded and then left to make some more soup, thinking that someday Bae would be the death of him.

The Bitter Chill lingered in the land for several weeks, and while many lives were lost, hundreds more were saved due to the efforts of the man everyone called the Dark One. Some of the villagers made the trek up the mountains to his castle to thank him personally, and some never forgot that bitterly cold winter, when freezing temperatures, ice, and a deadly sickness gripped the land and salvation came from an imp with gold skin and a wicked reputation for making offers no one could refuse.

"...And that, _mo astor_, is the story of the Enchanted Forest's coldest winter."

"Will I be able to make people better like that, Papa?"

"If ye have the will and the strength, then yes. For your magic is based upon those two things, Adriana. A strong will and a loving compassionate heart are what a healer mage needs most of all."

As well as the wisdom and fortitude to let a dying spirit go. But the child was too young yet for that lesson, he thought. Though one day, she would, like all the healer kind, need to learn it. 

"Yeah, Papa, you may as well hang up a sign outside that says The Happy Clinic," Bae joked.

"Uh-huh 'cause people get frownies when they're sick an' I'm gonna make 'em better so's they don't have frownies anymore."

"And the animals will come too," Rumple predicted.

Majors Rumple and Bae nodded. "Yup. 'F Adriana wants 'em here, we'll bring 'em here so they can get rid of their frownies!" Major Rumple declared.

"Oh they will," her father said. The animals were the first to sense the aura of an Empathic Healer and come to be healed. And he knew that his daughter would not be able to turn them away, which was why he had to make sure the animals did not overwhelm her when she was still a young apprentice, and unable to monitor herself.

"M'tired now, Papa...you sleepy, Major Rumple n' Bae?" she asked the bears.

"Yeah...gonna go to sleep." said Major Bae.

"Kay but no snorin', Major Bae or m'kickin' ya out an' ya can sleep with Bae!"

"Aww, gee thanks!" her brother groaned.

"Well you snore s'loud as HE does so he should sleep with ya!"

"Oh, I do not!" her brother objected. "You're exaggerating, Rumplette!"

"Ya want me ta play the tape?" she challenged.

"What tape, you little conniver?"

One night she, Major Rumple, Major Bae and Major Archie snuck into Bae's room with a recorder and taped her brother snoring.

"You're listenin' to station S.N.O.R.E..." she whispered into the microphone and had Major Rumple hold the recorder close to the teenager's pillow.

"Ooooh just the one me, Major Rumple, Major Bae an Major Archie made of ya one night." She grinned impishly. Major Archie started laughing from his place on the shelf.

"He sounded like a goat..." the bear chuckled.

Now all the bears were laughing.

The tape was her little insurance policy that he didn't welsh on his deal to take her Happy Army out Christmas caroling.

After all, she WAS Rumplestiltskin's daughter.

Bae decided he was going to take advantage of his sister's confinement to find that tape and get rid of it before his friends heard it.

He may have been bored during that harsh winter but here it was, years later, and it was impossible to be bored now when he had this little imp keeping him on his toes!


End file.
